Adorable

Isn't she just about the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Vote for Denver!

10pm to midnight Eastern time

(866)856-8304

The final show is next! Don't let the little kids from Light of Doom make it...

Photo Essay

Sometimes it's just about the pictures.

Name that plastic

Just curious if anyone can identify my "hat" and "picture frame." If I've already told you, please don't ruin my fun :)

Thanksgiving weekend

All of my side of the family was together for Thanksgiving - we had a blast! Kim already went to all the trouble of posting pictures, so check her blog if you haven't already :) It was fun to have the babies together again with the pregnant mama (who's showing very nicely!). Our cousin Megan announced that she is expecting in July - next year we'll have LOTS of kiddos!

Finally... Halloween pics

In honor of Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to post our Halloween pictures. :) I went Trick-or-Treating with two of the most adorable clowns ever seen and their circus ringmaster (ringmistress?) Rachel thought of herself as a pirate's first mate, but she didn't want to wear the hat or carry the sword. Sarah wore Rachel's first costume, and Daniel wore the clown costume that Mom made for me! We haven't found a picture of me in it yet. Daniel enjoyed the whole process, especially when they let him reach in the candy bowl. He gave more to Rachel than he did to himself! He thought that we were supposed to go inside each house to visit...

We're still voting...

for Denver and the Mile High Orchestra. The number is (866)856-8305, but it's only good for about 20 more minutes. Keetha, I didn't care for the song, but I love to hear the guys play!

Vote for Denver

Next Great American Band

1-866-U-LOVE-03 (1-866-856-8303)

9PM TO 11PM ON NOVEMBER 9TH

Watch and Vote Tonight!

The Next Great American Band is tonight at 8pm Eastern. Denver and the Mile High Orchestra will be playing as part of the top 10 bands. (See post below about Denver and Brad being friends in high school.) The format is changed from 2 hours to 1 hour and each band will be playing one song. The phone will open at 9 and have stayed open for two hours in the past weeks. Vote early and often! You can vote as many times as you want - or until your phone battery dies. Then switch to a different phone! I'll post the number to call as soon as we find out.

I'm back!

Best Buy FINALLY replaced my computer! I'm now typing on my brand new Toshiba laptop. Today was the 7 month anniversary of my taking my old computer to the Apple Glen Best Buy store in Fort Wayne. The customer service center ruined it and it has taken this long to get it resolved. The customer service manager had been on medical leave for the past three months, but it only took her 5 hours to fix the problem and replace the computer. So, now I can actually post pictures on a regular basis!

Kim already posted pictures of our trip to NY last weekend - check out her link at the side. Here are a couple of pictures of the cousins...

Cousins... Rachel has wanted a cousin for so long! We worked on getting David and Sarah to stretch out to show the difference in their sizes - Sarah is 13 pounds and David is 16 or so. Of course, Uncle Kevin put the big boy's head on my little girl's not-so-little tummy. She didn't seem to mind. It was quite a task getting all the cousins lined up pldest to youngest - Kim took a video of it. :)

Check This Out!

Here's the deal - my best friend from high school, Denver Bierman, has a big band called 'Denver and the Mile High Orchestra'. They are going to be on a new tv series premiering Friday, Oct. 19 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. The show will air in its regular time period on Fridays (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) after that.

From the auditions, the show's judges will narrow down the hopefuls to 10 semifinalist bands who will perform weekly in front of a live studio audience. The judges will have their say after each performance, but viewers will vote for their favorite bands to determine who stays in the competition. Voting begins immediately after each show, and the results will be announced at the beginning of the following episode.Each week, the bands will perform either original music or covers of varied styles. The range of genres will test their musical limits.

The season finale brings the ultimate battle of the bands, with the last three groups competing to secure a contract and the title of "Next Great American Band."

I just wanted to put the word out so that if he moves on you might put in a vote for him when the time comes.

[Here is a photo from when Denver and the Mile High Orchestra played in Marion for New Year's 2000. L to R - Brad, Kari, Denver & Amy Bierman]

Good news... bad news

The good news is that Sarah is much better. She went to the doctor on Friday and was about the same as Tuesday when we went, which is wonderful for RSV patients. I guess the early cases of RSV aren't as bad a later in the season. It didn't really go to her chest and affect her breathing - just lots of yellow goo in her nose. She's still sleeping in her car seat at night to keep her head elevated. She actually slept 7 1/2 hours on Friday night! We usually get 4-5 to begin the night, so 7 1/2 was a welcome change! Of course, we kept waking up wondering when she was going to get up, and Daniel was up during that time. She also hasn't slept that well since then, but we appreciated the effort. The doctor put her on an antibiotic for a secondary infection and the goo is clearing up. All three of my children were on antibiotics at the same time - that's a first!
The bad news is that since this was so early and relatively easy, she could get it again this winter. Ugh. I'm thankful this one wasn't bad, though. We'll pray that if she does get it again and we're going to end up in the hospital, please allow it to happen before the end of the year so that we don't have a new $3000 deductible to meet! The insurance is paying everything 100% at this point.
So, once again, please remember to stay home when you're sick! I hope you're feeling better, Robin!

I hate RSV

RSV is a respiratory virus that is basically a cold in adults, but is more dangerous in small children. This virus produces lot of mucous that babies can't handle. Daniel had it when he was three months old and was in the hospital for three days. He had a terrible cough and would cough so hard he would throw up mucous - usually all over me. We were in the doctor's office a few times before they admitted him to the hospital so that he could receive oxygen to help him breath. RSV can be rather scary, but it was nice to have a good doctor who could talk me through everything and reassure me that all we had to do was help him breathe with the oxygen and breathing treatments and then it would go away. I also got the "cold" and it triggered my asthma. I had trouble for weeks afterwards and ended up with sinus surgery to clear out the goo that was stuck in there from the chronic sinus infection that started with RSV. I hate RSV.

Last year on Christmas Eve, we took Daniel to the ER in Florida. He had RSV then as well, but it wasn't as bad because he was older. He did end up with pneumonia, but he didn't have to stay in the hospital. I also got it and was sick for the rest of the winter. Did I mention that I hate RSV?

When Sarah was in the doctor's office for her two month well-baby checkup, I asked when RSV season begins. Paul (pediatrician and good friend) told me that they start seeing some cases in December and then it gets worse from there. I wanted to be mentally prepared for it since we'd had it the last two seasons. However, I was not prepared to be dealing with it in October. Sarah was diagnosed with RSV this afternoon. Grrr... I hate RSV. So far, she is just congested and has yellow goo coming out of her nose. Her eyes are also a bit gooey, so we have eye drops for that. This is the way Daniel's started, and then it just gets worse from here. Some babies don't have a lot of trouble with it, and we're praying that Sarah will be one of those babies! We go back to the doctor on Friday... meanwhile, I'll be watching to see if she's having any trouble breathing. Please be praying!

Also, if you are sick, stay away from children and stay home! Even if you don't think you're sick, don't touch babies' hands, faces, etc. unless you are the caregiver! It seems like this would be a no-brainer, but I'm shocked at how many people don't think about what they could be spreading to children. I'm also shocked at how many people think that it's necessary to come to work when they're incredibly sick and contagious. They even think that it's something to be commended! "See, here I am at work when I feel so awful. The workplace could not go on without me." Did I mention that I hate RSV? I think we'll stay home all winter...

Change...

Daniel is a boy who likes routine... which is why he has routinely decorated with his own excrement. After another episode - this time decorating the wall in his bedroom - I decided that he had just spent the last night in his crib.

To accomplish the switch-over to the new bed, I had to rearrange some furniture to push his twin bed up against the wall and then assemble his safety rail. While I was trying to get his "big boy bed" ready for his nap, he took off his Pull-up and then proceeded to potty on the carpet. I ran him down the the hall to the potty and then he refused to go. Back to the bedroom we went just to repeat the process of pottying on the carpet and running to the bathroom. This happened SIX TIMES. However, on the SIXTH trip, he went in the potty!!! Now, you might ask why I let him stay naked only to have him go on the carpet, but this actually is a really good way to potty train if you can stand the potential messes. While I was working on his new bed, he was contained in his bedroom with me so I could catch him in the act and race him down the hall to the potty. In the end, I think he learned when he was about to go - quite the accomplishment. Now if we can convince him that he needs to go every time, we'll be all set!

While we're working on that, now I have to work on convincing him to stay in his bed. So far, so good. Friday night was the first night all week that we had to spank and return him to bed a few times. It's a work in progress. I must admit that it was pretty cute to hear him coming down the stairs that first night... he very carefully came down and slowly walked into the room and said, "Ma?" - asking if he was allowed to do that. Too cute. Then Daddy had to take him back up to bed.

Daniel has figured out that Sarah is often in mama's arms when he wants to be. He will try to move her head when she's nursing or shove her little body out of the way. He has also been known to point to her and then point to the pack n play and say "nigh-night," so that I will put Sarah down and pick him up. We've been working on sharing mama and being kind and gentle to Sarah.

So, we've had lots of changes for my routine-boy - please pray for all of us as we're adjusting...

And again...

This time at Grandma's house while he was supposed to be napping. I'm pooped after cleaning it up again. He should be all pooped out as well, but I'm guessing he won't be. So now I'm dealing with a toddler who didn't get his nap, also! Of course I found him 5 minutes before Sarah was supposed to be at the doctor's office for a check-up. Ugh. This time the unpainted wall bore the brunt of the "painting." I haven't gotten all of it off yet. Yesterday, Brad was home just long enough to put all the linens in the laundry. He said he could smell it as soon as he came upstairs. So true.
So now what? A friend told me to cut the feet off his sleepers and put them on backwards so that he can't unzip them, but that won't help with the naptime issue. I'm thinking about moving him to his big boy bed for two reasons. First of all, Sarah's going to need the poopy crib sometime soon - poor innocent girl who would never think of something so gross. Secondly, maybe he would find something else to do instead of playing with it - like going to the potty! Of course, I'd have to put the potty in his room because I'm sure we'll have to gate him in his room to make him stay when we first switch him. This could backfire, however, because he could smear it all over his room instead of keeping it contained in the crib. Any thoughts?

My nephew

Kevin posted new pictures of my adorable nephew David. The link is to the right!

He did it again.

It was worse. Enough said.

Brownies and cribs

I didn't show you the crib on the last post...

The main part of the "brownie" that was left over was under the sheet next to the pillow. The offending sleeper with the broken snap that will never be used again by Daniel was under the sheet, also.

He's going in the potty pretty well, except when he absolutely refuses to sit on it - not even to get "Yum-yums" (M & M's - he's probably saying "yem-yem," but it sounds like yum-yum and it fits!

Sarah slept for 5 hours last night! We're making progress!! She also rolled over from her tummy to her back last week. She's officially 2 months old now. I'm going to post pictures of Sarah and Rachel at this age for comparison in the same outfits. It's deja vu. The only problem is that I have to scan the pictures of Rachel into the computer, since she was born in the age before digital cameras were popular. Dad bought his first digital camera the day Rachel was born, 7 years ago. Recently we tried to see how many megapixels that camera had and we had to look really hard! We finally found in fine print that it was 1 megapixel. I guess "digital camera" was enough to sell them back then without all the details. :) Most of our pictures were 35 mm and are not on the computer at all. Bummer.

Gross, gross, gross

So I guess I didn't hear Daniel the other morning when he was awake in his crib. Brad heard him when he was ready to take Rachel to school... I didn't hear him for another 30-40 minutes. When I found him, he was naked and his diaper was on the floor. Since this was the third such occurance (due to a sleeper that won't snap at the top which makes it really easy for him to remove), I took pictures for future evidence. All cleaned up... notice that he actually has diaper rash on his forehead! Thankfully that went away after a couple of hours. So last night I bought him a potty. Unfortunately, we can't find our other TWO potties, only the stepstools. He proudly took his potty from the living room into the bathroom and proceeded to take off his shorts and diaper. Then, with much fanfare, we put on a pull-up. This afternoon he actually went potty in the potty! We're having trouble putting the Pull-up back on after sitting on the potty. If you see my son outside with nothing on his bottom, please let me know. :)

Miscellaneous

Daniel has discovered Bitty Baby. The other night, he was going around the house, putting her in all the places Sarah goes - her Pack n Play, the Boppy pillow, bouncy seat, and car seat - one after the other, over and over. It was so cute! When I put Baby Einstein on the TV for him, he pointed his index finger on the couch and said, "Down" so I would sit down next to him with my baby. He had his baby and proceeded to try to nurse his baby while I was nursing mine. Brad was appalled and would definitely not take a picture of that to put in a permanent album (and I didn't ask, although it was hilarious!) I did ask him to take a picture of us burping our babies, though. :)
This is for Keetha! Grandma bought the kids Colts attire this weekend - unfortunately, Sarah soiled her Colts sleeper so she was only able to model her Colts bib.
Daniel wanted get rinsed off in the sink rather than the bathtub. It doesn't work quite as well for him as it does for Sarah, but he enjoyed it!

Labor Day

Brad is holding Sarah, so I can actually post! I haven't been able to get much of anything done around the house because she is eating every two hours and not sleeping much at all. I was quite proud that we were able to get some jobs done today by laboring on Labor Day. It helps that Brad was home!

Daniel was helping Brad work in the upstairs bathroom. Of course, Brad was missing a part that he needed to complete replacing the sink and faucet, and the hardware store in town was closed. So, he and Daniel tried to fix the door so that it would latch.
My project was to finish removing the wallpaper in the bathroom downstairs. I had started it last October before we moved, and before I got pregant! I was tired of looking at the half-removed wallpaper and I finally had a little energy to work on it. I would do a little and then nurse the baby. Do a little more and nurse the baby. Then I put Daniel down for a nap. Then I nursed the baby... do you see the pattern?
This is how I finally got the project finished. She slept for quite awhile in her bouncy seat.
I did have a little help.

Above: Supervisor Daniel Below: Happy helper Rachel She actually ENJOYED removing the wallpaper and couldn't believe that I didn't get to do it when I was growing up.

Well, Mike and Kim, the picture of my Superboy standing up didn't turn out well, so here's the squatting version. He was wearing his jammies and had a pair of Rachel's panties on on top of his sleeper. It was very cute, but I'm sure he'll do it again so we can get a picture to post. He seems to think that when we squat down to take a picture of him, he needs to squat down, too. :)

New post... finally!

Rachel and her babydoll in the doll stroller :)

Rachel's Bitty Baby and my bitty baby Sarah with matching onesies in Sarah's swing

Sarah LOVES the Boppy pillow for tummy time...

...and so does Daniel.

My three kiddos - aren't they just adorable?

Dog Found

Male Lahsa Apso found at 3:30pm, August 23, corner of Franklin and Cherry Streets. Approximately 7 years old. Mostly white with gray in the lower ears and on front paws. He has a lopsided tail. Red collar, but the tag is unreadable. Very friendly. Tasted like chicken.

All joking aside, lost people get found at church all the time. Check out a local congregation near you to see what can be found.

Life at home

Look at those perfect, little feet!
A friend from church made her this darling, hooded towel. She loves bath time, as long as she doesn't get cold! So far, she has only been bathed in the bathroom sink.
Today, Sarah sat next to Daddy on the couch while he finished up some work. I think she likes this sitting up thing!
After bath time, ready for bed - had to get a picture of the curls, although you can't see them very well. I'm hoping she'll have curly hair like Daniel's - this time we won't have to cut the curls off!
Big sister Rachel loves to hold Sarah until she starts crying. She's rather annoyed when Sarah stops crying as soon as I pick her up. Rachel does a very good job with her, though. I will miss her help when she goes to school Thursday.
Daniel always wants to hold "the babay." Maybe I should spell it "bebe" with an accent mark over the second syllable. He will actually try to pull her away from me or pick her up from whatever she's in. When he's done, he pushes her away. She started crying last night when we were on our porch, and he tried to lift up my shirt while saying, "Eat, eat." The baby eats when she cries - he's just trying to be helpful and expose where she eats for the whole world to see. How nice. I'm amazed at how much he understands!
He was getting a little jealous of Mommy time. He tried to push "the bebe" away so he could have some lap room. We settled for one of Mommy's legs while Daddy snapped pictures. He loves to pose for the camera!